Buffalo Bills: Thurman Thomas finally gets his number retired

The Buffalo Bills announced that former running back and Bills legend Thurman Thomas will have his number retired during the 2018 season.

Retiring a number in the NFL is no easy task.

While franchises in other sports may be quick to retire numbers, NFL teams are working with large rosters and a limited amount of available numbers to be worn on jerseys.

But there comes a time when a player is so legendary to a team and a city, no one should be allowed to wear his number ever again.

The Buffalo Bills currently only have the No. 12 of Jim Kelly and the No. 78 of Bruce Smith completely off-limits. That will change this year.

It was only a matter of time before the team made it official with Thurman Thomas. And to make it that much more exciting, the ceremony will come during the October 29 Monday night game against the New England Patriots.

The greatest era of Bills football came when Kelly, Smith and Thomas were running the show, so it makes sense that all three are now immortalized in franchise history.

Thomas had quite the historic career in Buffalo, rushing for over 1,000 yards in each season from 1989-1996. He spent 12 years in Buffalo, racking up a total of 11,938 rushing yards in the process. And while it was unfortunate that he had to spend the final year of his career in Miami, Thomas will always be known as a Bills great.

Longevity at the running back position is a rarity, but Thomas gave Bills fans all he had for over a decade, and did so at a high level. His name can now be officially added to the list of the best jersey for fans to buy. Not that it wasn’t already.

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The game against the Patriots on October 29 should have Buffalo rocking, and the ceremony celebrating Thomas will only serve to get the crowd even louder throughout the night. Maybe LeSean McCoy will even go off for a career night.